City WeatherThe northern tier of the country has felt the effects of a ridge of mid/upper level high pressure. We’ve had 3 consecutive days of 90°+ heat in Marquette, quite unusual at any point but especially in June! Spring is somewhat extended here because Lake Superior takes awhile to warm up.
Continue reading “New Station Records Set, Dryness Continues”
Marquette just recorded its least snowy January on record (1857 – present)! The official station at the Water Treatment plant recorded a mere 3.5″. Normally, we receive almost 30″.
Melting that snow and combining it with whatever ice and rain also fell, amounted only to 0.77″. That’s less than half the 30 year normal amount of 1.83″.
Also, the mean monthly temperature of 24.7° in January ties for 8th on the list of all time warmest with 1878.
Here at our station near the Jacobetti Home for Veterans, we recorded 10.4″ of snowfall (0.72″ of liquid) in January. Whereas the last 3 winters we averaged 29.4″.
Our station’s monthly mean temperature (as measured from 8 AM to 8 AM and rounded to whole numbers) was 23.9°. That’s +5.5° compared to our station’s normal.
Continue reading “Jan ’21: Warm & Dry & A Somewhat Clear Sky”
Following 2 days of highly unusual lake-effect snow (8″ recorded at our station), Marquette saw it’s coldest October 27th in recorded history. NWS Marquette has confirmed that the low of 20° this morning set at the COOP station near the lakefront broke the old record of 22° set back in 1887.
October is running about 5° below normal. As of the morning of 27th, this is the 19th coldest October on record (since 1857). Finishing in the top 20 certainly appears doable if the forecast holds.
Overall, we’ve had a cool (meteorological) autumn so far as September was also a couple degrees below normal.
We’ll just have to see what the winter brings. It could all turn on a dime next month. But at least the weather’s never boring in the U.P.!
That was quite the winter storm for the 1st day of December! Three blocks south of downtown, we unofficially recorded a 12.1″ snowfall total. The official city COOP station near the lakefront reported 12.9″. That’s a new daily snowfall record for Marquette, assuming that number is confirmed by the local National Weather Service office. There was one other (unofficial) report in town of 13″.
Turns out, the storm concentrated its efforts further north than originally thought. More of Wisconsin was supposed to be in the mix. So my fears of it moving south and leaving us with another underwhelming snow total, as happened just 4 days beforehand, proved to be, let’s just say, “slightly off target”. Like a dart in the door frame.
Then there was the issue that so-called Winter Storm “Ezekiel” gave us twice the liquid precipitation (what you get when you melt a quantity of snow) than was modeled!
Also, during part of the morning and early afternoon, Lakes Huron and Superior hooked up to make extra snow.
Well, at least we had a beautiful sunny day to dig out!
Earlier I announced the end of snow measurements. Well, after thinking it over some more, I decided on a compromise solution. I will continue measuring snow but only as time, weather, and health permits. This may or may not happen at 8 AM each morning. I may skip days entirely. Or I may just put in an estimate if the wind has wreaked havoc on the measurement area. After all, these are unofficial numbers intended to give an example of what’s happening in the city.
I’ve created a new Snow Measurements page which will list any and all measurements throughout the season (October 1 – May 31).
Hope everyone enjoys the info!
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